A Touch of Heaven Spa Ministry: Pamper yourself

How would you like a couple of hours of uninterrupted bliss ~ getting your hair cut, having your brows (or above the lips) waxed, enjoying a manicure and pedicure, and luxuriating in a 25-minute massage, all at a reasonable price? That’s what you get at A Touch of Heaven (appropriately named!), in Harrisonville, MO. This weekend I was one of the special invited guests!

Six years ago, God put the vision for this spa into my friend Heather Hamilton’s heart, to provide busy women with a spa-ministry time to pamper themselves ~ “because we don’t do that,” she said.

God gave her the name of the spa and its symbol, the butterfly. (You see various pictures of butterflies in the salon.) Heather said that at first, the caterpillar is in a process of struggle, but through this struggle, it’s being molded and being shaped into a beautiful new creature – one of freedom.

The spa is not just a “beauty salon,” but a Christian outreach emphasizing the spiritual freedom found in a saving relationship with Jesus Christ.

There are five different “stations” at A Touch of Heaven. Each station is approximately 25 minutes long. Because I was planning to go to the movie October Baby with my daughter Heather that evening, I was only able to do two of the stations – but Heather (Hamilton) invited me back again in April to finish the stations!

While you’re waiting in line for your station, you can have tasty snacks like strawberries, or even a meal like the taco salad I enjoyed while there.

I interviewed Heather, hurriedly writing down what she said (now my texting skills came in handy!) in a small spiral-bound, blue notebook, between bites of delicious banana bread.

Heather is full of life and joy. She loves people. She also loves to talk. When she talks, she is energetic and passionate about what she is saying, and she moves her hands around a lot to more fully express what she is saying.

About.com says that Italians’ hand gestures punctuate what they are saying and give it a shade that the word lacks.

I tried several times to take a picture of Heather, but was unable to get one of her being STILL. This is a picture of her as she was talking to her friends (her “clients”)…with her hands talking, too.

I took pics of her spa salon, then had my first stop at the hair station with Melissa who had beautiful, long, coal-black hair and such a sweet spirit.

Melissa doing her thing!

I practically melted in the salon chair as she began trimming my hair, putting product on it, and styling it.

There is just something about having your hair done that makes you feel like a new woman!

While I am NOT a Lady Gaga fan, I do like this quote by her on hair:

“I don’t think I could live without hair, makeup and styling, let alone be the performer I am. I am a glamour girl through and through. I believe in the glamorous life and I live one. “

What do you need to do today to feel and live a little more glamorous?

Yes, you deserve it.

Maybe you should take a little time out for a place like A Touch of Heaven or somewhere similar ~ just for you to destress and get away from everything. Make it a priority! I did. 🙂

Below you can see the good job Melissa did with the front of my hair.

My new do

One of Heather’s helpers commented on the beautiful layers Melissa created in the back of my hair:

Layers

Now if only I could get it to look this way EVERY DAY! I always want to take my hair stylist home to fix my hair each morning! Once I asked my coach and friend Diane Cunningham how she always looks like she just stepped straight out of a salon on all her videos – perfect makeup, perfect nails, perfect hair.

“You must use TONS of product!” I texted her. She texted back, “You wouldn’t BELIEVE all the product I use!” and sent me a picture with her Iphone of her products lined up on a shelf. Yep, it was a LOT!

So, product is the key to great-looking hair. That, and living in Texas. I’ve never met a Texan woman yet who didn’t look stunning from morning to night. My mother-in-law, Judy from Kilgore, TX, always manages to look this way.

Anyway, back to A Touch of Heaven in Missouri! The other stations are a manicure, a pedicure, a wax (eyebrow and/or above the lips), and a massage.

I probably should have gotten the wax job before getting my hair done. Clint, the funny, outgoing guy who did the waxing, had to pin back my bangs so the wax wouldn’t stick to my newly done do!

He apologized for being “picky” as he worked on my eyebrows, but he said little stray hairs drive him crazy. I am a detail person (obviously), so I related. Sort of like little stray sentences in a blog post, such as:

This is the first time a man has ever waxed me. Will I regret this?

I was impressed because he did not hurt me. Some “waxers” do, practically ripping off your skin with the little hairs. Even then, it’s going to be worth it all, so you don’t have what national speaker/author Florence Littauer called at a professional speakers’ training conference, “fuzzy caterpillar brows.” BUT I HATE PAIN.

I was glad Clint was good and I didn’t bleed or cry. Below you see him in action. Notice his intensity. 🙂 NO unwanted hair shall have a chance, lol!

Clint is serious about eyebrows!

My time at Heather’s spa was relaxing. As I sat in the salon chairs, feeling just ministered to by this staff, I looked around at the blessings God had provided for Heather: salon chairs, beautiful paintings and other decorations, flooring, tables, equipment, a friend’s donation of $150 to start ~ and Heather’s five staff, who voluntarily came to Heather to help her. She did not have to seek them out.

Dream, Relax, Love

As always, the hardest part when God puts something into your heart is the waiting. Heather couldn’t do this right away after God showed her the vision. It was a timing issue…waiting for six years.

She tried to find a building, but she kept hitting a wall. Then God spoke to her heart to “start small” and use her home’s basement. And so she did.

When Heather first told me what she wanted to do a couple of years ago, I strongly encouraged her to do this and believed this vision was from God and would come to pass. As you may know from hanging around my website and attending my events, I am passionate about women using their gifts for God’s glory.

The fulfillment of Heather’s vision showed me again the importance of obedience and faithfulness to God in the small things, trusting in His perfect timing and for His provision, and not despising small beginnings. (Zechariah 4: 10)

On Saturday when I went, the room was filled with women, and I believe in time Heather will HAVE to move to a bigger place as her spa ministry grows. She offers the spa ministry once or twice a month, by special invitation only.

Manicure station

Sometimes when God has spoken a word to you, it doesn’t always go the way you think. Just as Heather was looking for a building to house her ministry and she winded up using her house’s basement, you may have to learn to be more pliableand flexible in the Master’s hands, for Him to form you into the image He desires and to use you the way He wants.

God’s vision may not happen as fast as you want, either(God always seems AWFULLY SLOW to me!) ~ but His timing is perfect.

The women at Heather’s spa ministry on Saturday were smiling, laughing, talking about the great things God is doing in their lives, eating, drinking, and were being richly blessed by a little “beauty treatment.” Beauty of face and body, beauty of spirit and soul.

When I looked around, I felt God’s presence and His smile on what Heather was doing.

I can’t wait to go back!

What is one step you can take today to begin fulfilling the vision God has put into your heart? Leave your comments below.

PS: As this decoration in Heather’s spa salon says, never get so busy making a living that you forget to make a life.

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